Choose build or request rendering

Every collection’s pages are prerendered at build time unless you say otherwise. The rendering policy in the Nimbus config switches a collection to render on request instead, which needs a server.

Pick a mode

Mode	Pages are rendered	Choose it when
`"build"` (default)	Once, during `astro build`	The site is static, or builds are fast enough
`"request"`	When a reader requests them	Builds are slow, or you want Markdown at page URLs or a remote MCP server

The policy covers the routes Nimbus serves collections from, and the Markdown and llms.txt routes that serve them. Your own files under src/pages/ keep their own prerender setting.

Prerequisites

A host with an Astro server adapter: Cloudflare, Netlify, Node or Vercel

Steps

Add a server adapter
From the project root, install the adapter for your host:
npx @cloudflare/nimbus-docs add adapter-cloudflare
yarn nimbus-docs add adapter-cloudflare
pnpm nimbus-docs add adapter-cloudflare
bunx @cloudflare/nimbus-docs add adapter-cloudflare
Other hosts use adapter-netlify, adapter-node or adapter-vercel. The installer sets output: "server" and wires the adapter. On Cloudflare, it also adds rendering: { default: "request" } if the config has no policy yet.
Set the policy
In astro.config.ts, set rendering in the Nimbus config. default applies to the docs, their versions and API references; collections sets a mode by collection name:
astro.config.tsts
```
const nimbusConfig = defineNimbusConfig({
  // …
  rendering: {
    default: "request",
    collections: {
      archive: "build",
    },
  },
});
```
To keep the site prerendered except for one collection, flip it: default: "build" with that collection set to "request".
Build the site
```
npm run build
```
Nimbus renders each route in the mode the policy sets, and warns when a route file says otherwise. Run nimbus-docs check --fix to update the files: it sets each route’s prerender line, keeps getStaticPaths on built routes only, and names the collection in a collection route’s page helper, such as getCollectionPage(Astro, "sdk"). add adapter-* and the scaffolder update them for you.

Verify

A request-rendered page has no HTML file in the build output. For a page at /guide/:

ls dist/client/guide/index.html

ls: dist/client/guide/index.html: No such file or directory

If the file is there, the page’s collection is still set to "build": check the collection name in rendering.collections. Then deploy and load the page to confirm the server renders it.

What stays build output

Request rendering changes when HTML is made, not what’s discoverable. The sitemap, the search index, llms.txt, and each page’s Markdown version are still prepared during the build, so search and agents see every page.

Rules the build enforces

Every name in rendering.collections must be a registered collection with its own catch-all route. An unknown name fails the build.
default covers docs, version collections, API collections, and the site-wide llms.txt and llms-full.txt; each collection’s Markdown and section llms.txt routes follow that collection’s mode. Without rendering, every route Nimbus manages is built ahead of time, whatever its prerender line says. Once rendering is set, any other page collection with its own catch-all route, such as a blog, must be listed in collections.
A built route with a dynamic segment, such as [...slug].astro, must export getStaticPaths. Astro can’t build it otherwise, so the build fails and names the file.
Generated API references render on request only on Cloudflare, except one with bundle: false, which also works on Node. On other adapters, keep API collections set to "build". See Large APIs for large APIs and many versions.

Next steps

Deploy to Cloudflare or other hosts: ship the server.
Serve Markdown at page URLs: a feature request rendering unlocks.
Configuration: every rendering field.